New temple find proves Angkor Wat collapsed due to urban pressure

Archaeologists have found 74 new temples and more than a thousand manmade ponds at Angkor Wat, new evidence that suggests that Cambodias long lost temple complex was the worlds largest known pre-industrial settlement.

Washington, Aug 14 : Archaeologists have found 74 new temples and more than a thousand manmade ponds at Angkor Wat, new evidence that suggests that Cambodia's long lost temple complex was the world's largest known pre-industrial settlement.

However, the urban sprawl and the associated environmental devastation may have as well led to the collapse of the kingdom, they said.

Scientists used jungle-penetrating radar to create a new archaeological map to reveal traces of vast suburban sprawl surrounding the many temples and the walled central city of Angkor Thom. The medieval suburbs spread from the shores of Cambodia's Tonle Sap to the Kulen highlands to the north.

According to archaeologist William Saturno of Boston University, at more than 3,000 square kilometres (1,160 square miles) Angkor Wat is the largest settlement ever found from the pre-industrial world.

"The scale is really unlike anything else. It dwarfs the large Mesoamerican cities that are the subject of my own work. The people who built greater Angkor were accomplished civil engineers. It's amazing the amount of earth they moved," said Saturno.

The archaeologists also found extensive waterworks threading through the low-density development, channelling the flow of three rivers through agricultural fields, homes, and local temples.

Rectangular embankments enclosed artificial ponds and probable rice paddies, while earthen mounds lifted houses to avoid seasonal floods. The waterworks also diverted water from the Puok, Roluos, and Siem Reap rivers to reservoirs that could be drained to irrigate crops or filled to dampen extreme flooding, they said.

However, in the end, the system failed to cope with the overwhelming pressure, they said.

The archaeologists found evidence of breached spillways and canals clogged with silt, suggesting that environmental degradation made the infrastructure increasingly difficult to maintain.

"Something went terribly wrong," National Geographic quoted archaeologist Damian Evans of the University of Sydney as saying.

Evans's team will report the findings this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy.

ANI